


No different From the Rest

by WhereverMySITakesMe



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, Burns, F/M, Fake Abuse?, Fever, Infection, It's a weird situation, Knox is done with everyone's shit, Physical Abuse, a bad time is had by all, minor PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:20:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29333679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereverMySITakesMe/pseuds/WhereverMySITakesMe
Summary: When Hawkeye's injuries get infected, Mustang will do anything to get her to a doctor, even playing the monster.
Relationships: Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	No different From the Rest

It was in the evening of day five when Mustang threw in the towel. The wounds he had given Hawkeye had quickly become infected and were worsening rapidly. She hadn’t wanted to see a doctor and had insisted that she would get better if they just gave it time. He had given it time. Calling in sick to work to care for her day and night. There wasn’t much he could do for her, except use wet cloths to try to keep her temperature down and feed her soup and sugared water to keep her strength up. He’d kept the wounds bandaged for the first few days, but he didn’t dare move her any more. The bandages hadn’t helped, anyway. He kept disinfecting her wounds, hourly now, even though it made her hiss and sob with pain, but he knew that it was futile at this point. It was all futile. He had no idea why he had ever thought they could handle this alone. Why he had ever agreed to hurt her.

“Hawkeye, look at me” Mustang knelt on the floor so that he was at eye level with Hawkeye. She was on his bed lying on her front with her head turned to the side. She’d have a hell of a crick in her neck when she got better. If she got better. He could hardly bear to think of the other option.

Hawkeye blearily opened her eyes and squinted at him. Mustang waited a moment for her eyes to focus before saying “Enough is enough. You’re sick. You need a doctor”

“No. We can’t” Her voice was slurred and weak but held a note of defiance

He tried to stay stubborn himself “You’re in no shape to argue with me. I can just carry you to a hospital, without your consent”

“You won’t”

She was right. Her tattoo was illegible now, but he hadn’t removed all evidence of its existence. Even if he had, her burns would require an explanation and neither of them had a good one. He had little ground to argue with her. This was his fault for abusing the powers she’d given him. He couldn’t force her to reveal her secret.

“ ‘ll be okay” Stupidly, Hawkeye was trying to reassure **him**.

“No, you won’t. You’re dying” Mustang’s throat tightened at the words. She might be in denial but he wasn’t. He dropped his head into hands “If I can find a doctor who’ll see you without asking any questions or telling anyone, would you accept that?”

“No questions” She repeated

“I’ll make sure of it” He promised “And I won’t get some hack, either” A plan was forming in his mind for how to get her proper medical care under the table.

“Okay” Hawkeye said wearily. Her eyes were half lidded and the lashes fluttered as she struggled to stay awake.

“Alright” There was no time to waste. He replaced the cloth cooling Hawkeye’s neck with a fresh one and got to his feet “I’ll be back soon” He squeezed her hand “Stay strong, Lieutenant. That’s an order”

Haweye mumbled something vaguely affirmative. He reluctantly let her fingers slip from his and headed out.

He made two stops before Dr Knox’s house, one to withdraw money and one to buy another bottle of liqueur. He drank a little, enough to scent his breath and tipped most of the rest over himself, leaving the bottle half empty. To finish the image he took his transmutation gloves out of his pocket and put them on.

_You are the Flame Alchemist_ He told himself as he walked  _You are a monster. You don’t give a damn about Hawkeye. You don’t give a damn about anyone._

By the time he reached the doctor’s house he was staggering and scowling, every inch the drunken brute.

Knox scowled  back when he opened the door “What do you want, Flame Alchemist?”

Mustang  fished the roll of cash out of his pocket  and held it out “Your services”

“You can’t just come banging on my door and demand a doctor. Go to a hospital”

“That wouldn’t look so good for me” Mustang pulled back his upper lip into a snarl “A young woman has some...suggestive injuries”

“I don’t care”

“I do.” Mustang folded his arms “I could just let her die, incinerate the body, dump it somewhere near Ishval. She’d be counted as a missing person or a suicide.”

“For God’s sake” Knox said with disgust.

Mustang just shrugged, radiating  apathy .

As he’ d  expected, Knox  wasn’t willing to stand by and let another innocent person die. “Fine, I’ll help you.  But just this once,  don’t make a habit of it .”  He grunted “What’ s wrong with her ?”

“Some burns got infected”

“I take it we aren’t talking cooking burns”

Mustang’s expression darkened “I was drunk. Forgot where I was. And  she provoked me ”

“Sure she did” Knox said, sarcastically. It was obvious that he hated Mustang right now\- who wouldn’t, with the information he had- but had the sense to focus on the immediate problems “Wait here while I get my bag”

When he returned, Mustang lead him back to his apartment, making sure to keep up a drunken stagger, and threw open the door “Doctor’s here” he called out. Unsurprisingly, there was no response. He showed the doctor to the bedroom. 

It was a good thing that he and Knox had strong stomachs and had experience in seeing how fire ravaged human flesh, because otherwise the sight would have been overwhelming.

Deep burns covered most of Hawkeye’s back, leaving her with enormous open wounds. The infection was obvious, both in the injuries themselves and in the surrounding skin, which was bright red and swollen, rendering the parts of the tattoo that Mustang hadn’t destroyed near invisible. 

“You did this?” Knox asked, his voice coloured with horror.

“Like I said, I was drunk. Summoning a hot flame is as easy as a cooler one” Mustang kept his voice disdainful, even though he wanted to weep with guilt. It killed him to see the pain he’d caused his Lieutenant.

“Take your damn gloves off next time you decide to get drunk and lash out at your girlfriend. And don’t let her get this sick before you call someone”

“It was a momentary loss of control” Mustang rolled his eyes “It won’t happen again”

“Sure it won’t.” Knox said “If she has any sense, she’ll pull a gun on you next time”

“I could kill her before she got a shot off” Mustang said, his tone smug.

“Animal” Knox muttered as he\- finally- left the doorway and crouched at Hawkeye’s side. He put his hand on her forehead, frowning at the heat of her skin “What’s her name” he asked without looking back up.

“Hawkeye” There was a beat before Mustang thought to clarify “Riza Hawkeye”

Knox addressed Hawkeye  “Riza, can you hear me?” 

“Yeah” Hawkeye slurred. Mustang didn’t know if she was lucid enough to figure out and go alone with his lie, but pretty much anything she said would only make her sound more like a battered wife.

“Do you know where you are?”

“Mustang’s house” She was breathless from the exertion of speaking.

“Good.” He seemed satisfied that she wasn’t completely delirious.

H e didn’t address her again, not even to warn her before he stuck an IV line into her arm or started re-cleaning her wounds.

Mustang sensed that  Knox  resented her too . Even though  she was  the apparent victim, it was easier to blame her for not defending herself or having the foresight to  avoi d the situation than to accept  the fact  that someone like Mustang could  hurt a  someone \-  even  an Amestrian woman- without consequence s . 

M ustang felt a little guilty for demonstrating that and giving Knox another horror to suppress. But he’d cope. They’d all had things they needed to forget. And Mustang was already almost certainly responsible  for the bulk of Knox’s nightmares, there was little point  holding back now .

Plus, Hawkeye came first. She  always would.

Eventually, Knox rose to his feet and turned back to Mustang, his expression dark “I’ve done all I can for now. I’ll be back tomorrow to change her bandages and replace the drip. You’d better hope the antibiotics can handle the infection”

There was a threat in the last sentence. Could be empty or maybe Knox was less apathetic than Mustang had anticipated. Either way, he wasn’t phased “If you tell anyone, I’ll have you court marshalled. They’ll believe me over you two” Mustang said and pretended to swig from the bottle he’d been carrying “I’m a war hero, you know”

“You’re a monster” Knox said, but there was no passion or surprise in his voice.

“Same thing. See you tomorrow” Mustang said with deliberately fake sounding cheeriness. 

He walked Knox back to the door without bothering with goodbyes or thanks. It was only when he was back at Hawkeye’s bedside that he finally abandoned the persona he’d been wearing and sagged to the floor. He closed his eyes and let his head rest against the wall. Exhaustion was catching up with him and the relief of Hawkeye finally getting medical care was dizzying. 

H e  only allowed himself a few seconds of rest before he opened his eyes  again and forced his heavy limbs into a crouch .  Hawkeye  still needed him, she wasn’t out of the woods yet .

Although her eyes were closed again he could tell that she was awake from her uneven, pained breathing.  Her skin was still flushed with fever.  W hen he touched her cheek  i t took  several seconds for her eyes to open .

“How are you feeling?” He asked gently.

Hawkeye  screwed up her face, trying to will herself focus.  It quickly proved  beyond her and her face relaxed again as she  half groaned “Tired”

“I know” Mustang moved his thumb soothingly over her cheek “Get some rest. I’ll be right here, for as long as you need me”


End file.
